Independent Paper On

The General Processes of Elections and

Parliament

Mattheus Lee En Wen

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On the general procesess of elections and Parliament

The current constituencies which Singapore is currently divided into are

classified into two types: Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and Group
Representation Constituencies (GRCs). The SMCs follow the British parliamentary
system where one candidate is elected for every constituency in the election, while
the GRCs are unprecedented in politics anywhere in the world, unique to
Singaporean politics.

The original rationale given for the introduction of GRCs instead of a purely
SMC system is that GRCs ensure a certain representative percentage of ethnic
minorities in the Parliament of Singapore, by mandating at least one candidate from
each group contesting a GRC, therefore ensuring a set number of ethnic minority
Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament.

There is some rational reasoning behind the introduction of GRCs, mainly due
to the largely successful integration of Singaporeans of different national origins,
races and ethnicities, geographically speaking. This results in the situation where if
the average number of voters to MPs in the 2010 UK general elections (69,000) is
taken over to the Singapore context, a random area drawn out with the residency of
69,000 will have a majority of Chinese as compared to the other main races in
Singapore, approximately 48,000. Therefore given this expected result, if contests
were purely by race alone Parliament would not have a sufficient minority
representation as reflective of Singapore demographics.

Therefore the current solution seems to be the introduction of GRCs, which

promise at least one MP of minority ethnicity per GRC. However, current GRCs have
at least four members, and as many as six members, bringing up the question of
whether the other members needed in the GRC. There is no real need for each GRC
to offer as many seats as they are currently; therefore a reduction of the size of
GRCs to two MPs, but still requiring one to be from an ethnic minority, is
sufficient to ensure the same ethnic minority representation, although by doing so
the overall number of MPs elected to Parliament would have decreased, which is
linked to the next issue in the elections.

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 There are 87 seats to be won in the 2011 Singapore General Elections with
2,350,873 eligible voters. This equates to an average of 27,000 voters under each
MP. While this is considerably less than the 69,000 voters per MP for the United
Kingdom, it still leaves much to be desired. Singapore is a country of great diversity,
and there are definitely more demographics that should be represented with a voice
in Parliament than the current 87. The grouping of individual issues into groups of
27,000 people results in an overall dilution, simplification and generalisation of
problems by the time it reaches Parliament. For every voter to be better represented
than it is today, the number of voters to MPs must be reduced. Naturally, this must
be done gradually, to enable all political parties time to adapt to the new
circumstances. The reduction could be to less than 23,000 voters per MP by the next
election in 2016, followed by a further reduction to less than 20,000 voters per MP by
the 2021 election, which would result in an approximate number of 118 MPs, given
the electorate size in the 2011 election. This ratio of 20,000 voters per MP is still an
extremely large value, the equivalent of one MP representing a group of voters able
to fill the Marina Floating Platform. After the 2021 elections the targets for boundary
changes should be revised based on demographic changes in the interim period.

To give concrete examples, the proposed Dual Member Constituency (DMC)

as well as the decreased voter to MP ratio (calculated from 2011 election data) can
be implemented as follows in some of the constituencies in the current election 2011
boundaries (in alphabetical order):

1. Aljunied GRC
a. For the 2016 election it is to be divided into two DMCs and three
SMCs, ensuring a voter to MP ratio of 20,449.
b. For the 2021 election, a small area from each of the DMCs and
SMCs is taken to form another SMC, taking the voter to MP ratio
further down to 18,643.
2. Ang Mo Kio GRC
a. For the 2016 election it is to be divided into two DMCs and four
SMCs, ensuring a voter to MP ratio of 22,383.

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 b. For the 2021 election, a small area from each of the DMCs and
SMCs is taken to form one more SMC, taking the voter to MP ratio
further down to 19,896.
3. Bukit Panjang
a. For the 2016 election, it is to be divided into two SMCs, ensuring a
voter to MP ratio of 16,526.
4. Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
a. For the 2016 election it is to be divided into two DMCs and two
SMCs, ensuring a voter to MP ratio of 20,415.
b. For the 2021 election, a small area from each of the DMCs and
SMCs is taken to form one more SMC, taking the voter to MP ratio
further down to 17,498.
5. Chua Chu Kang GRC
a. For the 2016 election it is to be divided into two DMCs and three
SMCs, ensuring a voter to MP ratio of 22,664.
b. For the 2021 election, a small area from each of the DMCs and
SMCs is taken to form one more SMC, taking the voter to MP ratio
further down to 19,831.

Ultimately when this process is applied to all the constituencies in the 2011
election up till the 2021 election deadline, the total number of MPs would have
increased to 133, an increase from the 2011 number of 87 of 53%.

This increase in the number of MPs in Parliament serves two purposes as to

Parliament and the general government of the country. Currently the Cabinet of
Singapore has 25 positions, not counting second ministers. Given a worst-case
scenario of a slight majority in the 2011 elections of 44 seats, the elected Prime
Minister would have to select a cabinet of 25 out of 43, which can be an extremely
difficult task, especially if there are not enough capable members to fill all 25
positions. This would either result in allocation of multiple cabinet positions to a
single MP or allocations of cabinet positions to MPs that are inadequate for the
position.

The increase of Parliament to 133 MPs would mean that the worst-case
scenario of a slight majority would be the winning party having 67 MPs. The cabinet

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would be therefore better formed than before as there is a greater choice of MPs for
cabinet positions. The ten-year gap between the current election procedures and the
deadline for the implementations of the changes suggested would give ample time
for potential ministers to be recruited and trained by the individual parties and
ultimately, elected as MPs.

In conclusion, the main points put forth by this manifesto are as follows:

i) The abolishment of GRCs and the introduction of DMCs to reduce

the number of seats contested on average in a constituency while
maintaining the racial minority representation in Parliament.
ii) The redrawing of election boundaries for the next two elections
through a set schedule to ensure that by 2016 each MP represents
no more than 23,000 voters, and by 2021 each MP represents no
more than 20,000 voters.
iii) An increase in the size of Parliament through the increase of the
number of MPs brought about by the reduction of the voter to MP
ratio as stated in b.
iv) An overall increase in the efficiency of the cabinet in providing a
larger base of MPs from which to select the cabinet, therefore
increasing the overall quality of cabinet and reducing problems
such as multiple postings or inadequate ministers.